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Huckins 70 cores hull worth it?

Discussion in 'Huckins Yacht' started by Danvilletim, Nov 6, 2011.

  1. Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

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    Looking at a 70 1989 Huckins SF for $270k. See yacht world. Recent C30 repower.

    A. huckins has a great name in this forum
    B. Lots of negative comments about coded hull (airex)

    The layout is good with enclosed fly bridge given that we are mostly cruising around San Francisco.

    Was able to tell that boat was in Charter in Cabo. Not sure how that effects likely wear and tear?
  2. maldwin

    maldwin Senior Member

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    Airex is a good lightweight material, provided there are no moisture issues. if you find any moisture, I would get a substantial price concession or walk.
    Best,
    Maldwin
  3. Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

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    Moisture check will be done...If there are areas of moisture.... how are repairs made?
  4. CaptTom

    CaptTom Senior Member

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    Not familiar with this hull but find out of it's cored all the way or just down to the waterline. Some builders do glass the entire wet surface and core above for strength and to alleviate water issues.
    Other concern is that it was a charter boat. May have more wear/tear thanyou wan tto deal with.
    Good luck.
  5. geocash

    geocash New Member

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    70 Huckins Lucky Hooker - AREX Mush ?? Broken stringers hull panning

    I found this same boat and decided to move ahead. Offered 200K which bank accepted. If you have seen the boat then you know the list of cosmetic issues. It appears the boat was being chartered in Cabo for 1 year plus and I swear they never so much as took a hose to rinse off the salt. Also found out the boat had hit a reef coming back from Mexico.

    Sea trial was amazing as boat hit 35 Knots, but there was a vibration as soon as it went into gear. In reverse the vibration was very severe. I also spoke to someone else that was scared away due to the vibration. Now none of this made sense, Long Beach Yacht Sales told me the boat was damaged during bank repo and all underwater gear had been replaced.

    Had the boat hauled and also requested the yard to checks shafts for alignment issues. Haul out looked good and yard gave thumbs up on the alignment.

    Boat was then launched and we headed back from yard to dock. About a 3 mile trip. During this time my surveyor was in the bilges. Within seconds of leaving the jetty my surveyor ran to the helm to get me. He was in the forward bilges, stringers on both sides at amidships were cracked and the hull was moving up and down about 2+ inches. We immediately slowed down to idle and made our way back to the slip. During the remainder of the trip the surveyor looked in the lazarette near the struts. Here he saw movement near both struts along with cracks running from the sides to under the water tank. Now it was obvious where the vibration was coming from.

    Not one to be scared way easily, I requested a quote from Long Beach Ship Yard and Gamble industries. Long Beach did not want to quote (probably due to liability) and Gamble's quote came back as 50K-80K but not firm. Since it was a cored hull no one was willing to give a firm quote until they opened it up.

    Did a little more investigation after this and found that boat hit a reef about 700 miles from Long Beach and Capitan ran the boat with badly bent props all the way back. It apears the bank did cosmetic repairs to the hull exterior but did not address the structural issues. This explains the cracks thru out the cockpit and who knows about the hull. It was explained to me that this could have turned the AREX hull in mush.

    FYI - One boat yard pointed out additional issues with super structure - they valued the boat at 60,000 to 65,000 due to the additonal cancer above the water line.

    Needless to say I walked.

    Attached Files:

  6. SHAZAM

    SHAZAM Senior Member

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    Another example of why you don't use core below the waterline.
  7. Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

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    Huckins sent me a survey. Might have been yours. Scary mess. Appears to be at engine value. Are Donzis cored below?
  8. SHAZAM

    SHAZAM Senior Member

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    No. Cored or not cored below the waterline, I'm not sure how any boat would fare after being run aground with bent running gear for 700 miles.
  9. RT46

    RT46 Senior Member

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    Wow, there is the value of YF, right there!

    and it is free!!!!
  10. geocash

    geocash New Member

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    Last I heard they sold the boat to a guy in Puerto Vallarta - no survey or sea trial. He was planning on taking boat there for repairs - Anyone want to take that ride I think it is about 1000 miles and Cabo to Mainland is 250 in open water!
  11. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    This thread has been moved to the General Yachting Discussion forum...
  12. Bill106

    Bill106 Senior Member

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    From the pictures there appears to be a substancial amount of glass on the outer skin and the core failed in shear, exactly as would be expected from grounding on a reef and probably at a fairly high rate of speed. Reefs have a nasty appetite for chewing up hulls of every material, cored, single skin glass, aluminum or steel. The core wasn't to blame, the captain was!

    Airex is also a closed cell foam and will not "turn to mush" when immersed in water. As long as the inner skin isn't breached, many a boat has made it back home safely because the core did it's job and distributed the impact loading. I know it can be argued both ways, but both single skin and cores have their merits. I'm not trying to start that one again and yes, I am biased because I build cored hulls mainly. Didn't see it in the pictures but a layer or two of Aramid strategicaly placed in the laminate stack would have greatly increased the impact resistance.
  13. SHAZAM

    SHAZAM Senior Member

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    Bill, sorry about my vague response to the damage photos. Of course its obvious that the damage is the result of the boat impacting a reef, my post wasn't intended to suggest that the damage was the result of the bottom being cored. The intention of my post was to suggest that I'd rather have a solid non cored bottom to repair rather than a cored bottom that has had significant impact and compression damage with a reef or anything else. Unfortunately though since I was posting from my iPhone in traffic, I wasn't able to convey what I really wanted to say.

    Regardless though, I respect your opinion regarding cored bottoms, fwiw though, I'm firmly in the solid glass below the waterline camp.
  14. Bill106

    Bill106 Senior Member

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    Vive La diff'erance Shazam!

    You weren't being vague at all, and I probably try to champion cored composite construction more than I should but it's hard not to be passionate about what you do, or it should be anyway.